JP2612929B2 - Reconstituted container for frozen food - Google Patents

Abstract

A package for reconstituting a frozen foodstuff, such as a pot pie, formed from a precooked, lossy material filler food (60) having a preselected depth and covered with a layer of uncooked dough (80) which comprises a dish-shaped receptacle (10) formed of a microwave impervious material with a cavity (40) for the foodstuff and a peripheral rim (50) whereby the filler material within the cavity is shielded from direct microwave exposure except through the dough layer and a flat, self-sustaining essentially rigid microwave susceptor sheet (20) with an outer shape generally matching the shape of the rim of the receptacle wherein the susceptor sheet is supported on the dough in parallel, heat conducting relationship with the upper surface (82) of the dough and is spaced from the rim by the dough. The susceptor sheet includes a thin metallized layer (104) on a plastic film (102) laminated to a paperboard (100).

Description

The present invention relates to a preparation technique for consuming or reconstituting a frozen food dish such as a frozen potato pie, in particular by applying microwave energy to the dish. To a container or packaging container for reconstitution.

Prior art and problems The concept of the prior art for packaging food to be cooked in a microwave oven is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,230,924 and 4,591.
No. 4,492, No. 4,626,641, No. 4,641,005 and No. 4,656,3
It is described in Issue 25.

The present invention relates to a novel combination of a frozen food and an appliance or container, wherein the frozen food is covered with raw bread for consumption, and the raw bread cooks the food inside. Heated, baked and burnt with microwave energy without and without deteriorating the pie crust's unpalatable, unappetizing, hot lumps of crisp raw bread . Until now, this major problem has not been solved, and therefore potato pie, and in fact, fruit pie, is generally not available in a frozen state and has to be electronically processed to produce appetizing results. It cannot be reconfigured in the range. For that reason, pot pie or other frozen pie with raw bread from quality producers is packaged and sold in metal dishes and placed in a conventional convection oven. This convection takes a considerable amount of time to reconstitute the frozen bread into a satisfactory food or dessert, and therefore producers of quality potato pies and other pie-skinned foods produce frozen pies, They have been displayed at retail outlets and have sought a satisfactory means to reconstitute in a microwave a cooking time significantly less than the time required to bake pies in a conventional convection oven. To achieve this, pies are pre-baked, pie crusts are browned and sold in plastic containers that can be heated in a microwave oven. This merely warms or reheats the pre-cooked pie and does not solve the problem of baking and uncooking uncooked pie with a microwave oven. In addition, pre-baking or partially baking the pie will cause the pie crust to separate during transport and / or during reconstitution. Some pies are made with a pie crust that is somewhat hard and separate from the filling food inside. Others include placing a substance on top of the pie crust to bring the pie crust to the desired cooking state and to mask the failure.

The various patents mentioned above show to what extent most producers are willing to use a microwave oven for various types of food reconstitution, such as browning or locally heating.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,924 employs the idea of converting energy at a wrapper to brown or crisp food. The amount of heating is controlled by increasing the number of non-metallic gaps or strips between metal locations. No microwave permeable container for storing the food to be heated and for adjusting the cooking of a pot pie or similar food is disclosed.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,492 teaches a susceptor plate over a spring bias. The susceptor plate is pressed against the top surface of the food in a carton or container that is to be heated by microwaves.
This patent also teaches the idea of partially shielding the food to limit the amount of microwave heating of the material within the container itself.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,641 combines the material of U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,005 with a carton and holds a layer of this material at a fixed spacing on the pot pie crust. It has also been shown that this spacing is important in producing radiant heating. When the skin of the pie becomes brown, the microwave does not pass through the heating device or the crisp device of this patent to heat the interior of the pot pie, and for that reason, it is made of plastic. U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,641 for holding pie containers is inserted, which has a lower opening for directly heating the filled pot pie with microwaves.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,005 uses a sensitive material to construct a carton or container itself. It is not intended to be used as a separate and separate plaque on pie crust material as contemplated by the present invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,325 is directed to a carton having a lower metal surface and a spaced upper cover over the food product. This cover has a high dielectric constant and is produced by utilizing a relatively large area of metallic material outside the cover to increase the effective dielectric constant of the cover. A relatively large spacing in the range of 0.8 to 2.0 cm is required on the food for the heating device of this patent. This patent includes the idea of a metal foil container in combination with a specially designed non-reflective cover. This cover is necessarily relatively thick, or contains metal coatings or foils. This patent relates only to a more efficient method of food heating and does not address the idea of browning the upper raw bread layer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an apparatus for reconstituting potato pies and other frozen foods having a pie crust on top. In accordance with the present invention, a pre-selected nominal thickness formed between a filled food that is a pre-cooked lost substance having a pre-selected depth and a generally uneven top and bottom surface. A container is provided for transferring the food into a microwave oven for reconstitution, along with frozen food-type food, such as potato pie, covered with a layer of uncooked fresh bread. The adjective "loss" in the above sentence is used to describe a material that is heated when exposed to microwave energy. The device or container in this combination comprises, as a first component, a dish-shaped container made of a foil material which is impermeable to microwaves, comprising a lower wall supporting the filled food and a preselected shape. And separated from the lower wall by a length that is slightly greater than the preselected depth of the filling material and slightly less than the sum of the preselected depth and the preselected thickness of the raw bread. In addition, there is a concave portion for putting food between the upper circumferentially extending rim, and therefore, the filled food is placed in the concave portion, and the one that passes through the raw bread itself is not filled. Exceptionally, they are shielded from direct microwave irradiation.
The undulating upper surface of the raw bread layer is located above the rim, at least in the rim area of the dish. By using this microwave impervious foil material container for the filling material, the energy of the microwaves can be filled except for penetrating the raw bread material and thus baking it to make pie crust. Do not penetrate into materials. By shielding the filling material from microwave energy, only the energy passing through the raw bread substantially heats the pot pie filling material. This means that when raw bread is baked by absorbing microwave energy,
Raw bread is used to soften and reduce the heating effect of microwave energy on the filling material. Another feature of the novel device used in combination with frozen foods is a self-holding, generally rigid microwave sensitive plate, whose outer shape extends entirely around the perimeter of the foil container. It matches the preselected shape of the defining rim. "Overall coincidence" means that it covers the raw bread and does not extend too far laterally. This susceptor plate is supported on the raw bread and has a heat conduction relationship with the upper undulating surface of the raw bread as a whole.
Separated from the container rim by the thickness of the raw bread above the rim. The susceptor plate is made of a thin metallized layer on a plastic layer laminated to relatively rigid paper, the overall thickness of the susceptor plate is less than 0.2 cm and the thickness of the metallized layer is Microwave heats the thin metal layer, heats the pie crust to a temperature of about 90 ° C or higher by conduction heating, and heats it to a temperature high enough to brown the raw bread It has a thickness that can be done.

According to the present invention, formed from a pre-cooked filled food product having a preselected depth and having a preselected nominal thickness between the generally undulated upper and lower surfaces. A method is provided for reconstituting a frozen pie covered with a layer of uncooked raw bread. The method involves passing microwave energy through the raw bread layer for a preselected time and into the filling material while the other microwaves of the filling material pass through the preselected time. Shielding from the energy of the waves, during which the filling material or food is heated and the raw bread layer is baked, the step being followed by a step of covering the shielded material with a thin microwave-heatable sensitive plate. And further,
Pass the microwave energy through the sensation plate for the time required to brown the top of the raw bread, while allowing the microwave energy to pass through the raw bread layer and into the blocked filling material. And the steps to make.

According to this method, it is known that the time of the initial heating and the time of the final heating using the sensitive plate are almost the same. In practice, heating without the sensible plate is about 5.5 minutes at 100% power. With the sensible plate, heating is at 6.5% for about 6.5 minutes. The sensation plate, which is spaced from the surface of the raw bread but supported by the raw bread, may also be used at a total heating time of about 5.5 minutes at 100% power or 6.5 minutes at 50% power. In these examples, heating with the susceptor plate in place would increase the maximum heating time by about one minute.

By using the present invention, overcooking of the filled food material can be prevented, and thus the material can be heated to the use temperature for baking and browning the pie. This final result proves extremely satisfactory for reconstituting a chitin pot pie in a microwave oven in less than about 12 minutes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 shows a device or tool A comprising an aluminum tray or container 10 and a microwave sensitive plate 20 for holding a pot pie 30 therein. As best shown in FIG. 2, the aluminum tray or container 10 is typically made of aluminum foil and has generally inclined side walls 42 and an upper circumferentially extending rim 50. And a recess 40 for containing food. This type of equipment may not be usable for microwave heating, but such trays or containers can be placed in a microwave oven without damaging or dangerously arcing the microwave oven. I know what I can do. In fact, the tray is preferably coated with a non-conductive plastic, but this is not essential. Container 10
The pot pie 30 of the cavity 40 includes a filled food material 60 having an upper surface 62, said upper surface comprising a lower wall 44 of the container 10.
Is separated by a length a. In FIG. 2, it can be seen that the top or top surface 62 of the filling material is below the rim 50, so that microwave energy cannot pass from the side or bottom into the filling material. . The tray or container 10 is impermeable to microwaves and is formed of an aluminum layer sufficient to reflect the microwaves. Therefore, no heating occurs on the surface of the aluminum forming the tray 10.
In this way, the filling material is shielded from microwave energy, with the exception of energy entering through the top or opening of the recess 40. This energy heats the filling material 60 and reaches the lower raw bread layer 70 if the lower raw bread layer was used to confine the pie 30. Generally, a frozen pot pie has only the upper raw bread layer 80. This layer has an upper undulating surface 82 and a lower, generally planar surface 84. The lower surface is adjacent to the top surface 62 of the filling material 60,
All spaces or bubbles in this area of the pie have been totally eliminated. The upper surface is undulating. The lower surface may also be undulating, but is considered to be flat in that it is in contact with the upper surface or top surface 62 of the filler material 60. On top of the undulating surface 82 of the raw bread 80, a rigid, self-holding, generally flat microwave sensitive plate 20 is located, and during cooking the raw bread is merely gravitational. On top of. The length b is the length from the lower wall 44 to the top of the rim 50. This length b is greater than the length a for shielding purposes as described above. The raw bread layer 80 has a thickness c, which, together with the depth a, defines the overall height of the raw bread layer above the lower wall 44.
This combined length will be higher than the rim, so that the sense plate 20 will rest on the pie crust and above the rim. All microwave energy passing into the filling material 60 must pass through the raw bread. This is the second
This is clearly shown in the figure. The sensitive plate 20 can pass a limited amount of microwave energy, which is used to heat the filling material 60 and bake the upper raw bread layer 80. It also bake the raw bread layer 70, but the present invention seeks to provide an apparatus for cooking pot pie as shown in FIG. 2A, without the underlying raw bread layer 70.

According to the present invention, the layer of metallized aluminum on the lower surface of plate 20 is heated to about 90 degrees C. or higher by the energy of the microwaves passing through the plate. As a result, the upper surface of the raw bread layer 80 is heated by heat conduction from the lower surface of the plate 20. The raw bread is burned up and down by the absorbed energy, and the rigid self-holding plate, which was held by gravity, follows the raw bread, so that the raw bread has its dimensions and (or ) Even if the position is changed, the action of browning is maintained. The conductive heating to squeeze and crisp the upper surface 82 is maintained in an efficient position, which is in contact with the pie crust formed by baking and baking the upper raw bread layer 80, or It is supported on it. Heating is increased, but to reduce strain, additional space may be provided between the susceptor plate and the upper raw bread layer 82 by changing the undulation pattern.

FIG. 2A shows a preferred type of pot pie 30 ', in which the filling material 60' has an upper surface 62 'covered by a raw bread layer 80' having an upper undulating surface 82 'and a lower surface 84'. ing.
Microwave sensitive plate 20 has a shape generally conforming to the shape of the pie shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and rests on surface 82 ', which surface is metallized. It is heated by conduction from the face plate 20.

Referring to FIG. 3, a preferred embodiment of the microwave sensitive plate 20 is shown, comprising a paper plate 100 having a thickness of about 0.05 cm,
It consists of a thin plastic plate 102 of 0.0025 cm or less. An aluminum layer 104 having a thickness e of about 0.1 micron or less is vacuum deposited on this layer. Fig. 2 and 2
As shown in FIG. A, the thickness d of the plate 20 is 0.2 cm or less, preferably 0.1 cm or less. The preferred embodiment has about 0.0
It has a thickness d of 5 cm. Vacuum deposited layer 104 is generally described in the aforementioned patents, and typically has a thickness that provides a surface resistance in the range of about 0.15-45 ohm / cm ² .
As for the other structure of this material, aluminum drops 10
The gap 106 between the eight is adjusted to allow the passage of a preselected amount of microwave energy. In practice, the passage rate of this tuned microwave is generally 50-80%. With respect to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the surface 104 is adjusted and tested for surface resistance to obtain the desired heating effect at surface 82.

Referring to FIG. 4, in some examples, the susceptor plate is separated from the surface 82 of the raw bread layer 80 by a length g, as shown in FIG. In this example, the sensing plate 200 has an outer periphery that matches the outer periphery of the pot pie 30, which is shown in an oval shape and has a tab 210 that can be folded downward. These tabs are folded down as shown in FIG. 5 and the tabs rest on the floor 214 of the microwave oven, leaving said gap g, the maximum height of which is directly related to the length of the tab. In practice, this gap is very small, causing the surface 82 to be essentially conductively heated, as described above.
Often the tabs widen and the plate 200 is supported on the rim 50 and layer 82. Radiation heating occurs when there is a gap of about 0.8 cm or more, which is difficult to control and changes greatly when the shape of the pie crust changes. As mentioned above, the sense plate essentially rests on layer 82. By providing a gap g, additional microwave energy can be applied to the rim 50 and plate 200.
To the lower surface of the vehicle. This allows for additional cooking without changing from essentially conducting heating of the surface 82. The layer 215 on the lower surface of the sensing plate 200 is provided with an aluminum surface having the above-described characteristics. Preferably, the surface resistance is about 0.25 ohm / cm ² . The higher the resistance, the higher the temperature, so that as the sensitive plate 200 is raised to create the gap g, a larger surface resistance is used. The gap g is 0.3 to 0.6 cm, and is 0.8 cm or less in the case shown in FIG. This is a relatively small gap, essentially maintaining conductive heating between the metal layers on the plate 200, said plate being heated by the energy of microwaves and having a top surface.

Referring to FIG. 6, the sensing plate 200 has downwardly bent tabs 222 and 224, which generally have a width h that matches the sum of the thickness c and the gap g.

FIG. 7 shows a tent-shaped sensitive plate 230 with a metallized inner surface 232 facing the upper surface 82 of the pot pie 30 in the container or tray 10. This embodiment of the invention allows for more microwave heating during cooking. The height j from the top of the tent shape to the surface 82 is about 1.25 cm. This means that the entire pot pie is shielded from the microwave energy, with the exception of the microwave energy in which the tray 10 is first absorbed by the raw bread layer and then transferred into the filling material. As long as
The effect of creating a burn on the top surface is still maintained.

FIG. 8 shows a modified susceptor plate 20a in which the metallized layer 104 is provided with a mask-like non-metallized strip 106 '. The width and number of these strips, relative to the total surface area of the plate 20a, increases the amount of microwave that can pass freely through the layer 104 to increase microwave heating through the raw bread and into the filling material. Defines the amount of energy. In this example, the relationship between the area of the strip 106 'and the surface 104 can pass 50-80% of the microwave energy. Also, the amount of energy passing through the plate 20a is
It is also conceivable that the area not covered by layer 104 can be adjusted by means of a photo-resistive process mask to create the desired amount.

EXAMPLES As a standard to judge the present invention, chicken pot pie was reconstituted in a conventional oven at 205 ° C for 40-45 minutes. The potato pie was cooked and the pie crust was fully baked, with a change from lightly burned to strongly burned. This standard pot pie is first refurbished in a conventional microwave oven at 5.5% at 100% power.
Heated without the sensible plate for one minute, then the flat sensate plate shown in FIG. 1A was placed on the pie crust and heated at 50% power for 6.5 minutes. The end result was a browned, reconstituted potato pie that was generally equivalent to a pot pie baked in a conventional oven.

Another standard pot pie was provided with a lifting plate as shown in FIG. The plate was placed on the top surface 82 of the pot pie. The microwave was operated at 100% output for 5.0 minutes after the sensitive plate was positioned at a predetermined position. after,
Place the lifted sensation plate in place and turn on the microwave.
Operated for 6.5 minutes at 50% power. This pot pie was reconstituted in a conventional oven heated pie with similar appearance and quality.

To define the maximum heating in these examples, a flat surface
The test was repeated using a susceptor placed on 82, receiving the energy of the microwave at 50% power for 7.5 minutes. This process produces a more grainy, more crisp surface 82, which is still acceptable. The test with the raised pedestal was increased from 5.5 minutes at 100% power level to 6.0 minutes at 100% power level. Even with this, an additional grain was obtained, but satisfactory results were obtained.

Another test was performed using a tent-shaped sensing plate 230 as shown in FIG. This board had a spacing of about 1.25 cm from the top to the pie crust and a pot pie of the type described above was heated at 100% power level for 8.0 minutes. The end result was satisfactory and was somewhat advantageous in that a shorter heating cycle was required without changing the microwave setting.

When employing the present invention, the container 10 is removed from the carton and heated in a microwave. By placing the sensation plate over the pot pie, the cook can be visually monitored as well as make some adjustments to the cooking procedure. Such an adjustment is generally commercially advantageous, and in the present invention an excellent baking cycle can be obtained for food products having an upper pie crust.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing a two-part instrument or tool for reconstituting a frozen pot pie in a microwave oven. FIG. 1A is a tool or tool shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a self-holding, generally rigid microwave sensitive plate employed as one component of the above, with a portion cut away to expose the lower plastic film. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view taken generally along line (2-2) of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2A illustrates the use of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view showing details of a sensing plate employed as one component of the device or utensil of the present invention, FIG. Removes the saucer from the skin of the pot pie trying to cook FIG. 5 is a plan view, partially cut away, of a modified microwave susceptor plate having tabs for showing port pie; FIG. 5 shows the use of the modified susceptor plate shown in FIG. 4; 2 and 2A, FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of a modified example of the sensing plate shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is another sensing plate which can be used in connection with the present invention. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a modification of the sensation plate employed in connection with the present invention to adjust or change the amount of microwave energy passing through the sensation plate during cooking. In the figure, 10: Dish-shaped container 20: Sensing plate 40: Food cavity 44: Bottom wall 50: Rim 60: Food 80: Raw bread 82: Undulating upper surface 84: Flat lower surface 100: Paper 102 ... Plastic film 104 ... Metalized layer.

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] A frozen pie containing lost food frozen food (60) covered by an uncooked raw bread layer (80) having an undulating upper surface (82) and a substantially flat lower surface (84). (A) a dish-shaped container (10) made of a microwave impervious material, the lower wall (44) for supporting the food, and the thickness of the food. A concave portion (40) for inserting food between the upper peripheral rim (50) separated from the lower wall by a length that is longer than the total thickness of the food and the uncooked raw bread layer; And (b) supported on the undulating upper surface of the uncooked raw bread layer having an outer periphery generally corresponding to the rim of the container and spaced apart from the rim. A flat, self-holding, generally rigid microwave susceptor plate (20), comprising: Is a paper board (100) with a thickness of 0.2cm or less
A plastic film (102) laminated on the lower surface of the paper board (100); and a thin metallized layer (104) on the lower surface of the plastic film (102). Energy can be passed, and when the food immediately below the uncooked raw bread layer is heated by microwave energy that has passed through the sensitive plate and the raw bread layer,
Thickness such that the metallized layer can be heated by microwave energy to a temperature high enough to heat the uncooked raw bread layer by conduction to at least 90 ° C. to brown the uncooked raw bread layer. A frozen food packaging container, comprising: ^2. The package of claim 1 wherein said metallized layer has a surface resistance in the range of 0.15 to 45 ohm / cm ² . 3. A package according to claim 1, wherein said metallized layer has a thickness of less than 0.1 micron. 4. A container according to claim 1, wherein said sensitive plate has a thickness of 0.1 cm or less. 5. The container according to claim 1, wherein said metallized layer is capable of transmitting 50 to 80% of the energy of the applied microwave. Frozen food packaging container.